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Feb 11, 2015 By John Everhart Photography by Petra Kleis Issue #51 - September/October 2014 - alt-J

Blaue Blume are downright understated when contrasted with other recent Danish bands such as Iceage and Lower who have garnered international acclaim. They dare to sound lush and effeminate in a scene that favors bombast and aggression. This isn’t by design, necessarily, claims singer Jonas Smith. “We don’t want to christen ourselves in any type of genre…but it’s fun to see what people call us. I like art pop, because we like pushing pop conventions in a way, but we work with bridges and choruses.”

Yet the band, rounded out by guitarist Robert Jensen Buhl, drummer Søren Jensen Buhl, and bassist Peter Bøgvad, cohere into something pretty damn special on their debut EP Beau and Lorette, nodding to everything from the Americana troubadour-work akin to Cat Stevens in Smith’s sonorous vocals, to the likes of Cocteau Twins and Pale Saints in Robert Jensen Buhl’s guitars that occupy the foreground. The drums are adroitly yet understatedly played by his brother Søren, and the bass of Bøgvad intuitively locks to the kick drum. It evokes a pop standard used by, to suggest a modern antecedent, Wild Beasts.

Reluctant to cite specific influences, Smith does see a kindred spirit in a fellow Danish experimental pop act. “Efterklang is a band I would mention as a band we look up to in a way, in their music style and their whole band thing,” he enthuses. “Their bassist [Rasmus Stolberg] liked our first Soundcloud release, ‘On New Year’s Eve,’ that was only available if you sought it out on Soundcloud. Which really amazed us.”

Ever self-effacing, Smith even finds fault with the band’s chosen moniker, which means “blue flower” in German. “Our name doesn’t translate well. It’s androgynous and poetic. And even with the name of our EP, Beau is a dainty type of guy while Lorette is the opposite, a prostitute, selling oneself to the moment. You can connect the meaning to the songs, especially ‘In Disco Lights,’ which is about a boy and a girl who sell themselves to lust and liquor,” he says, laughing.

“This is our first official release, and I don’t feel like we were ready to put out a big statement,” continues Smith. He grows circumspect as he attempts to explain an overriding manifesto, yet insists that they are still writing, and jokes that they’ve even considered calling their next EP Beau and Lorette as well, simply because it sounds so good phonetically next to their band name. But he’s steadfast that they’ll follow their idiosyncratic artistic muse wherever it leads them. “Everything we put out sums up our personal mindset, and we hope it holds up in time. We don’t have any prejudice about whatever comes to mind. We just write.”

He sighs, and continues with a world-weary view that belies his age, “I’m 24, and it’s about issues faced by someone that age, having anxiety about death, and where I’m going with life. I want to keep questions unanswered and let them be solved in time. Let this EP and this bunch of songs be what they are to people who listen to them, if that makes sense.”

[Note: This article first appeared in Under the Radar’s September/October print issue (Issue 51).]

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